Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157 on the hands of food‐workers

A total of 94 food handlers working at 25 premises in the city of Bradford were examined to determine the prevalence of carriage of Escherichia coli O157:H7 on their hands. A total of 50 clerical workers who did not handle food on a professional basis were recruited as controls. All subjects made palmar impressions on 225mm 2 plates containing modified cefixime‐tellurite sorbitol MacConkey agar. In contrast with earlier studies, which examined only abattoir workers, none of the food‐handlers or controls in this investigation carried the bacterium on their hands.